Supremum of the Airy2 process minus a parabola on a half line

Let \aip(t) be the Airy$_2$ process. We show that the random variable [\sup_{t\leq\alpha}\{aip(t)-t^2}+\min{0,\alpha}^2] has the same distribution as the one-point marginal of the Airy$_{2\to1}$ process at time $\alpha$. These marginals form a family of distributions crossing over from the GUE Tracy-Widom distribution $F_{\rm GUE}(x)$ for the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble of random matrices, to a rescaled version of the GOE Tracy-Widom distribution $F_{\rm GOE}(4^{1/3}x)$ for the Gaussian Orthogonal Ensemble. Furthermore, we show that for every $\alpha$ the distribution has the same right tail decay $e^{-(4/3)x^{3/2}}$.Comment: To appear in Journal of Statistical Physic

Evidence for geometry-dependent universal fluctuations of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence

We provide a comprehensive report on scale-invariant fluctuations of growing interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence, for which we recently found evidence that they belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for 1+1 dimensions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 230601 (2010); Sci. Rep. 1, 34 (2011)]. Here we investigate both circular and flat interfaces and report their statistics in detail. First we demonstrate that their fluctuations show not only the KPZ scaling exponents but beyond: they asymptotically share even the precise forms of the distribution function and the spatial correlation function in common with solvable models of the KPZ class, demonstrating also an intimate relation to random matrix theory. We then determine other statistical properties for which no exact theoretical predictions were made, in particular the temporal correlation function and the persistence probabilities. Experimental results on finite-time effects and extreme-value statistics are also presented. Throughout the paper, emphasis is put on how the universal statistical properties depend on the global geometry of the interfaces, i.e., whether the interfaces are circular or flat. We thereby corroborate the powerful yet geometry-dependent universality of the KPZ class, which governs growing interfaces driven out of equilibrium.Comment: 31 pages, 21 figures, 1 table; references updated (v2,v3); Fig.19 updated & minor changes in text (v3); final version (v4); J. Stat. Phys. Online First (2012

A large-eddy simulation study of thermal effects on turbulent flow and dispersion in and above a street canyon

Thermal effects on turbulent flow and dispersion in and above an idealized street canyon with a street aspect ratio of 1 are numerically investigated using the parallelized large-eddy simulation model (“PALM”). Each of upwind building wall, street bottom, and downwind building wall is heated, and passive scalars are emitted from the street bottom. When compared with the neutral (no heating) case, the heating of the upwind building wall or street bottom strengthens a primary vortex in the street canyon and the heating of the downwind building wall induces a shrunken primary vortex and a winding flow between the vortex and the downwind building wall. Heating also induces higher turbulent kinetic energy and stronger turbulent fluxes at the rooftop height. In the neutral case, turbulent eddies generated by shear instability dominate mixing at the rooftop height and appear as band-shaped perturbations in the time–space plots of turbulent momentum and scalar fluxes. In all of the heating cases, buoyancy-generated turbulent eddies as well as shear-generated turbulent eddies contribute to turbulent momentum and scalar fluxes and band-shaped or lump-shaped perturbations appear at the rooftop height. A quadrant analysis shows that at the rooftop height, in the neutral case and in the case with upwind building-wall heating, sweep events are less frequent but contribute more to turbulent momentum flux than do ejection events. By contrast, in the case with street-bottom and downwind building-wall heating, the frequency of sweep events is similar to that of ejection events and the contribution of ejection events to turbulent momentum flux is comparable to that of sweep events

Effects of Carbon Content and Cold Working on Damping Capacity and Mechanical Property of Fe-17wt.%Mn Martensitic Alloy

Effect of carbon content on damping capacity of Fe-17%Mn alloy is investigated by varying the carbon content from 0.02wt% to 0.28wt%. And cold rolling is conducted to examine its influence on damping capacity and mechanical properties in an Fe-17%Mn-0.02%C alloy. With the increase in carbon content, damping capacity decreases due to the area reduction of γ/ε boundaries and their mobility. Cold rolling up to 10% is found to improve strength as well as damping capacity in an Fe-17%Mn-0.02%C alloy without significant decrease in elongation. Fe-17%Mn-X%C alloy system containing carbon below about 0.1wt%, exhibiting superior mechanical properties and good damping capacities at high strain amplitudes, can preferably be applied as structural materials subjected to high amplitude vibration

Genomics of quality traits

The quality attributes of cereal grains are valued in the context of a complex food chain that integrates outputs achievable by breeding, production, and processing. New processing technologies, environmental change, and changes in consumer preferences demand that quality attributes of wheat and barley need to be continually modified. The advances in the genomics of quality described in this chapter provide the basis for ensuring that the genetic approaches encompassing the complexities of the gene networks underpinning quality attributes can meet the challenges presented by the rapid changes occurring within the food chain